ADM Kids

As someone who has recently and somewhat accidentally become a youth soccer coach, one of the biggest surprises with our group of 5- and 6-year-olds is how many of them always know the exact score of games as they are being played.

In contemplating that bit of anecdotal evidence, this question emerged for Rich Hansen, a Player Development Manager for USA Hockey, in the context of 6U and 8U hockey players:

How do we square the goals of a season, which aren’t rooted in wins and losses at those age groups, with the fact that a lot of kids remain fixated on the scoreboard.

His answer and subsequent thoughts on the ingredients of a successful 6U and 8U season, were illuminating.

“There's no doubt kids love to win. They're competitive by nature,” Hansen says. “But the adults at the rink, the question has to be, ‘at what cost’?

As such, Hansen implores coaches to not focus on the score.

“It doesn't take a genius coach to say, all right, how are we going to win this game? Let's play our best players the majority of the time and just dump the puck in,” Hansen said. “But you can let the kids think about the wins and losses. It's your job as the adult to do it the right way.”

There are numerous examples of shortcuts to winning in other sports, and Hansen used an example from when his daughter was a youth volleyball player. Just want to win? Get the ball over the net as fast as possible. Want to do it the right way? Encourage all phases of the bump, set and spike process.

To Hansen, the right way in hockey involves many tenets of development. First and foremost at those ages, kids should be getting comfortable on the ice. Games of tag are better than old-school skating drills, he says, because hiding lessons within enjoyable tasks is essential.

Players at 6U and 8U need a lot of encouragement, too, as they make crucial incremental progress.

“Seeing them improve from week to week is extremely rewarding,” Hansen says.

Fun is an essential part of the 6U and 8U experience.

“I think if you can put them in that environment where they're just going to inherently learn while having fun, it's better for everybody,” Hansen says.

It helps hold their (typically short) attention spans and makes them want to come back for more.

“I put them in that kind of environment where it's fun. They’re moving and they’re engaging,” Hansen says. “When you’re teaching that way, they’re less likely to be off looking at something else or messing around.”

Having success at the 6U and 8U levels also means communicating the “why” of things to both players and particularly parents, Hansen says.

They might not understand why certain things are being emphasized or what different activities are trying to teach, but information can go a long way.

“I was very communicative with the families because I think it's important as a coach to let people know why you are doing certain things,” Hansen says. “If you just start doing some of this stuff, parents might think, ‘this doesn't look like hockey. What are we getting into?’”.

Being upfront makes it less likely that those questions or that uncertainty will arise.

“A big part of it for me was getting ahead of things and saying, hey, this is what it's going to look like, but this is why we're doing it,” Hansen says. “It’s rewarding for me to get buy-in from parents because you've explained it and they kind of see it, but then they also see that their kids want to keep coming back.”

And that, ultimately, is the goal at those youngest levels. Did the kids have smiles on their faces? Did they wake up excited to go to the rink – and to come back next year?

“I wanted them to come to the rink and then leave just sweating with smiles on their faces thinking it was a blast,” Hansen says of his coaching experience at those levels. “I wanted them to think, ‘I can't wait to get back there.’ That was it.”

The kids are smart. They will know if they won or lost the game, and it does matter. But a true undefeated season should be defined differently by the adults.

“In our world, if you have 15 kids on your 8U team, you have 15 kids that come back for 10U, that's you going 15-0,” Hansen says.